Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 2, Number 27: July 4, 1999:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
This week's new subscribers are John Lorenzo and NBS
members Stephen Searle, Craig N. Smith and Darryl A.
Atchison of County Cork, Ireland. Welcome aboard! This
brings our subscriber count to 172.
ASYLUM UPDATE
Editor Marilyn Reback informs us that the Summer 1999
issue (Vol. XVII, No. 2) was to be shipped from the printer
to Michael Sullivan for arrival on Thursday, July 1. President
Sullivan will handle the mailing while Secretary-Treasurer Dave
Hirt is away in Europe. The contents of the issue include:
President's Message by Mike Sullivan
Letters to the Editor (Re: United States Treasury
Specimen Books by Raphael Ellenbogen (The Asylum,
vol. XVI, no.1, Winter 1998, pp. 12-18)
New Members
"News from the Net" by Pete Smith
"The Printers Devil" (A.P. Wylie, Keeper of the Flame)
by Joel J. Orosz
"Between the Covers" (ephemera vs. junk)
by Colonel Bill Murray
"Book Review: The Soho Mint & the Industrialization
of Money" (Author Richard Doty) by Carl C. Honore
"Harry Bass vs. the Fuld Library" by George Fuld
"More on Budis De Asse" by William Malkmus
"The Development of the Coin Album, Part 4" (cont.)
by David W. Lange
"Research Aids: Catalogs, NBS Friends & Serendipity"
by Ed Price
OBITUARY: WAYNE ANDERSON
Pete Smith provided the following information:
"Wayne Anderson died June 30, 1999. He was 58. He is
survived by his wife, two children and a grandchild with
additional step-children and step-grandchildren.
Wayne was known for founding the Conder Token
Collectors Club. In his collection of tokens, he specialized
in pieces that combined high rarity with high quality. He also
collected U.S. and world coins, guns, knives, marbles and
metal toys.
Wayne appreciated quality in his collections and his library.
I recall books that were dusty and faded that came back to
life after Wayne cleaned them and oiled the covers. He was
concerned with conservation of his books and the proper
opening and handling of books to keep them in the finest
condition."
BIBLIOGRAPHY HELP SOUGHT
Darryl A. Atchison writes: "I just finished looking at the
E-Sylum web-site - very impressive, but I do have a few
comments."
He found the question of membership fee confusing, but I
think I cleared this up for him - subscriptions to The E-Sylum
are free to all, and independent of NBS membership.
He would also "be interested in talking to people regarding
publications I am looking for, questions I have regarding
publications, and projects I am currently working on (including
a new bibliography of Canadian numismatics - which has
already been a five year project to date and the text currently
stands at 314 pages and covers every field of Canadian
numismatics, and I can foresee another three to five years to
go yet). A bit like a jail term unfortunately.
But as I keep hitting stumbling blocks, I try to correspond
with individuals to assist me in overcoming various hurdles,
including access to or reviews of various publications including
auction catalogues. Post has proven to be both slow and
unreliable. Some people just don't bother to respond at all.
You know how it is.
It seems to me that a list of names and email addresses would
be beneficial to assist serious collectors and researchers,
especially those not living in the continental U.S. who obviously
can't attend A.N.A. conventions, etc. and have difficulty in
contacting other N.B.S. members.
I would be very interested in corresponding with you or other
members of the N.B.S. who may have an interest in Canadian
numismatics or the bibliography project, especially if there is a
potential that I could possibly find answers to questions that
will arise from time to time."
I explained our policy against revealing subscriber names and
email addresses without permission, but invited him to continue
submitting questions for posting in upcoming issues of The
E-Sylum. Those wishing to contact Mr. Atchison can reach
him at cashs@iol.ie
BIBLIOGRAPHY UPDATES
Larry Mitchell has continued to update the NBS Numismatic
Bibliography. In addition to updating the Byzantine section,
the following Medieval Coinages sections of the bibliography
are new:
62. SASANIAN
63. KUSHANA
64. GUPTA
65. INDIA
The bibliography resides on the NBS web site:
http://www.coinbooks.org/ Click on Bibliography.
WEB SITE UPDATES
The E-Sylum archive at the NBS web site has been brought
up to date, and for those who do not subscribe to COIN WORLD,
a copy of last week's article on The E-Sylum is now available
on our web site at
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_cw_article.html
Thanks again to William Gibbs for writing the article and
granting permission to reprint it.
MONEY TREE SALE RESULTS
Cataloguer David Sklow reports strong results for The
Money Tree's 31st sale, which closed June 26th. The foreign
and ancient literature from the Richard Buckley library
attracted many bidders. Among the most active lots were the
Mitchiner volumes on Oriental coins (lots 573-575), bringing
$275, $226, and $226, respectively. The singlemost popular
lot in the sale was the Kessler book on Fugio Cents, bringing
$122 on a tantalizingly low estimate of $35.
Other highlights included Clapp's United States Cents of the
Years 1798-1799 (lot 817), $700; Roman Imperial Coins
Vol V (lot 361), $480; The Canadian Numismatic Journal,
vols 1-20 (lot 390) $375; and The TAMS Journal, vol 1-28,
(lot 270), $474.
MORE ON THE ASSAY BAR CONTROVERSY
Having mentioned the brouhaha over Western Assay Bars
appearing in the pages of COIN WORLD and elsewhere, I would
be remiss in not noting the full-page advertisement by Stack's
in the July 12, 1999 issue (p69), "An Open Challenge to
Professor Theodore V. Buttrey," asking "Are the western
assay bars real or fake? It would be helpful to the numismatic
community if a debate were held at the August 1999 American
Numismatic Association convention in Chicago, at which time
each side may present their views."
FEATURED WEB SITE
Having written a cover article for The Numismatist on Money
Artist J.S.G. Boggs (May 1994), I've continued to follow his
career. This weeks' featured web page is an article from the
July issue of The Atlantic Monthly reviewing a new book on
Boggs by Lawrence Weschler. In an interesting turnabout,
the cover illustration for the book is an engraving of Boggs by
Thomas Hipschen, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing artist
responsible for presidential portraits on the new $100, $50,
and $20 notes.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99jul/9907moneyartist.htm
Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a
non-profit organization promoting numismatic
literature. For more information please see
our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/
There is a membership application available on
the web site. To join, print the application and
return it with your check to the address printed
on the application. For those without web access,
contact Dave Hirt, NBS Secretary-Treasurer,
5911 Quinn Orchard Road, Frederick, MD 21701
(To be removed from this mailing list
write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)